Broward County Motorcycle Accident Lawyers
Riding in Broward County usually comes with lane changes on I-95, sudden merges on I-595, tourists on A1A, and drivers who look for trucks and SUVs before they ever notice a motorcycle. A crash in Broward traffic usually leaves a rider dealing with broken bones, head or spine injuries, and a schedule that now revolves around treatment and phone calls from insurance adjusters.
If you were injured in a motorcycle accident in Broward County or anywhere in Florida, you may be entitled to compensation. Call Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel, PLLC at (954) 495-2715 to see if you have a case. You pay nothing unless we take your case and win.
Do I Have a Case?
Riders usually want to know one thing first: does Florida law give a path to compensation for what happened, or does insurance have the final word? A motorcycle accident case exists when another person or company acts carelessly on the road and that conduct causes injuries and measurable loss, which can include medical bills, missed work, and long-term health changes.
Case evaluation in a motorcycle crash looks at how the collision happened, who controlled each vehicle at key moments, and what physical and financial harm followed. Lawyers also look at coverage layers: the at-fault driver’s bodily injury limits, any uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, and health insurance that helped with bills. Getting the full picture helps answer if there is a viable case.
Situations that usually point toward a viable motorcycle case include:
- Left turns across a rider’s lane without a clear, safe gap
- Lane changes into the motorcycle’s space without a signal or mirror check
- Rear-end impacts where a driver followed too closely for traffic conditions
- Drivers running red lights or stop signs and entering an intersection against control devices
Riders do not need every fact pinned down before calling a lawyer. A short, focused conversation with someone who regularly handles motorcycle crashes in Broward County gives a much more reliable answer than a guess based on an adjuster’s initial assessment.
After the Accident: Protecting Your Case
Actions in the days after a crash have a direct effect on health, finances, and case viability and strength. Pain, confusion, and medication make clear decision-making harder, so riders can help themselves by following a practical list of priorities. Here’s a list of what to do after a motorcycle accident to protect your case from the start:
- Get thorough medical care: Emergency treatment comes first, and follow-up care with primary doctors, orthopedists, neurologists, or physical therapists documents injuries and can connect them clearly to the crash.
- Follow treatment plans: Gaps in care or skipped appointments give insurance companies arguments that injuries resolved or never reached the severity described later, which can reduce case value.
- Preserve evidence from the scene: Photos of the roadway, vehicles, skid marks, debris, and visible injuries help reconstruct what happened and expose inaccurate statements from drivers who want to deflect blame.
- Collect witness information: Names, phone numbers, and brief notes about what each person saw protect against fading memories and later changes in story.
- Save every bill and record: Riders benefit from one place where hospital bills, specialist invoices, pharmacy receipts, and wage loss records stay organized, which makes it easier to prove damages.
- Limit direct contact with adjusters: Brief, factual communication without recorded statements or broad medical authorizations reduces the risk that a casual phrase appears in a later denial letter.
Our highly-skilled motorcycle accident lawyers can take over direct conversations with insurance companies, which lets you focus on recovery while the case moves forward in the best possible way.
How to Choose the Right Attorney
Riders in Broward County have many lawyer options on paper, yet only a smaller set regularly handle serious motorcycle crashes from start to successful finish. Choice of counsel affects how evidence gets collected, which experts become involved, and how firmly an insurance company takes negotiation.
Use the following criteria when deciding which firm to hire:
- Experience with motorcycle cases — Ask how frequently the firm handles motorcycle crashes, not just car wrecks in general, and what kinds of injury levels make up their typical caseload.
- Courtroom readiness — Ask whether lawyers at the firm personally try cases and how they prepare when an insurer refuses to negotiate in a fair range.
- Resources for investigation and experts — Motorcycle crashes sometimes need reconstruction experts, medical experts, and life care planners; a firm with the resources to hire and manage those professionals has an advantage.
- Communication style — Clarity about who handles day-to-day updates, how frequently clients can expect to hear from the firm, and how questions get answered makes the process less stressful.
Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel use meetings, phone calls, and secure online tools to keep riders informed as evidence develops and as offers arrive, which helps clients make grounded decisions at every stage.
How Our Lawyers Build Winning Cases
Strong motorcycle cases in Broward County come from deliberate work on liability, injuries, and damages rather than from any single document or argument. Lawyers at Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel approach each case as a layered project, where groundwork on evidence supports later negotiation and trial preparation.
Building the Liability Story
Case work starts with the crash itself. Our motorcycle crash lawyers and investigators:
- Review crash reports, diagrams, and any citations
- Visit the scene when needed to review sightlines, traffic structure, and road conditions
- Seek out camera footage from nearby businesses, traffic cameras, or dash cameras
- Interview witnesses while memories remain fresh
The work our Florida motorcycle accident attorneys do during this part of the case exposes careless driving habits, timeline gaps, and inconsistent statements from at-fault drivers, which helps counter attempts to blame the rider.
Documenting injuries and future needs
Medical records carry significant weight in any motorcycle case because they connect injuries and treatment directly to the crash. Our lawyers will:
- Request complete records and itemized bills from every provider
- Track diagnostic testing, surgical procedures, and therapy progress
- Consult with treating doctors about long-term restrictions and future care
- Work with vocational experts or life care planners when injuries limit employment or independent living
Linking each medical opinion to specific crash forces and symptoms gives adjusters and juries concrete reasons to accept the full scope of damages rather than a narrow snapshot.
Negotiation and, When Necessary, Litigation
Once liability and damages sit on a solid foundation, lawyers open structured negotiations with insurance companies and present the case in a format that mirrors how a jury might view it. When an insurer refuses to move into a reasonable range, our lawyers may file suit, conduct depositions, and prepare for trial, and when we show we are willing to keep pushing instead of accepting a low offer can influence insurance companies and affect the numbers in meaningful ways.
Working With Our Firm and the Case Process
Riders feel more grounded when they know what to expect from start to finish. Motorcycle cases follow a general path, with some variation based on injury level and coverage issues.
A typical timeline with Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel looks like this:
- Initial conversation and case review: Lawyers gather basic facts about the crash, injuries, treatment, and insurance, then give a candid assessment about case strength and potential challenges.
- Sign-on and immediate protection steps: Once the firm accepts a case, lawyers send letters of representation, stop direct adjuster contact with the rider, and start evidence preservation efforts.
- Active treatment and ongoing investigation: Clients focus on medical care while the firm builds the liability and damages picture in the background, with regular check-ins to collect updates.
- Demand package and negotiation: When treatment reaches an appropriate point, lawyers assemble records, bills, expert opinions, and wage loss documentation into a demand that lays out liability and damages clearly.
- Suit and litigation when required: If negotiations stall, lawyers file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, conduct discovery, handle motions, and take the case to mediation or trial when necessary.
Contingency fee arrangements mean clients pay attorney fees only out of money recovered, not out of pocket while the case moves forward.
Unique Factors in Motorcycle Accident Cases
Motorcycle crashes bring with them multiple unique factors, including:
Rider bias
Some drivers, adjusters, and jurors walk into a case with assumptions that motorcyclists take unnecessary risks. Lawyers need to expose and correct those assumptions by focusing on concrete conduct, traffic laws, and real riding conditions in Broward County.
More Serious Injuries
Road rash, degloving injuries, compound fractures, and traumatic brain injuries appear more frequently in motorcycle crashes, which affects treatment length, scarring, and long-term pain.
Coverage gaps
Florida PIP rules do not treat motorcycles like passenger vehicles, so riders cannot rely on familiar no-fault benefits and need to lean more heavily on liability coverage and uninsured motorist coverage.
Gear and helmet debates
Adjusters sometimes argue that lack of gear caused certain injuries or made them worse, yet those arguments do not erase a driver’s duty to look for and yield to motorcycles according to traffic laws.
Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel factor in those unique issues from the outset and present motorcycle clients as careful, responsible riders who faced careless behavior from others on the road, rather than as just a stereotypical rider.
Fault Assignments
Negligence law in Florida sets out a clear structure for assigning fault in motorcycle crashes, and that structure drives whether and how much compensation flows to an injured rider.
Four elements of negligence in a motorcycle case
Florida negligence law relies on four elements:
- Duty of care: drivers and other road users are required to act with reasonable care under traffic and road conditions
- Breach of duty: a driver fails to meet that standard through conduct like speeding, distraction, or illegal lane changes
- Causation: the breach directly leads to the crash and resulting injuries
- Damages: the rider suffers physical harm and financial loss that can be documented
Our motorcycle wreck lawyers gather evidence that ties each element together and link a left-turn violation to a specific fracture on imaging or connect phone records to distraction at the exact moment of impact.
Comparative negligence under HB 837
Florida now follows a modified comparative negligence rule for most negligence cases. When a rider is found to be partially at fault, damages drop in proportion to that percentage as long as their percentage isn’t more than 50%.
Insurance companies push that rule aggressively and look for anything that deflects blame, including lane position, speed, or gear choices. The attorneys at Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel push back by grounding fault assessments in traffic statutes, objective evidence from the scene, and reliable expert analysis.
How Does Compensation Work?
Compensation in a strong case reflects both the short-term harms and long-term change across health, work, and daily life.
Categories that may apply include the following.
- Emergency and hospital bills, follow-up visits, therapy, and medication costs
- Future medical care, including additional surgeries, injections, or assistive devices
- Lost wages for missed workdays and reduced hours
- Reduced earning capacity when lasting impairments limit job options or force a change in career
- Motorcycle and gear repair or replacement
- Physical pain, reduced mobility, and ongoing discomfort
- Emotional effects like anxiety, depressed mood, or sleep disruption
- Loss of enjoyment when injuries block hobbies, travel, or family activities
Coverage for related losses may come from several insurance layers, including the at-fault driver’s bodily injury policy, any umbrella coverage, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage carried by the rider. Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel identify every potential coverage source and build damages evidence that fits within Florida law and within available policy limits.
Personal Injury Statute of Limitations for Florida
Florida reduced the statute of limitations for most negligence cases, including motorcycle crashes, from four years to two years for accidents that occurred on or after March 24, 2023. Missing that deadline usually bars a rider from pursuing a case in court, even when fault looks clear and injuries remain significant.
Accidents that happened before that date may still fall under the older four-year timeframe, yet analysis gets fact-specific. Riders in Broward County benefit from a timeline review that lines up the crash date, treatment history, and any prior filings or insurance claims so that no one miscalculates the last day to bring a lawsuit.
Time limits for claims against government entities, including cases that involved a public vehicle or poorly maintained public roads, follow separate notice and timing rules, which require even closer review.
Local Experience With Broward County Motorcycle Crashes
Broward County has its own traffic rhythms, problem intersections, and repeat patterns in how crashes occur. Experience with those local details helps lawyers anticipate defense arguments and locate useful evidence faster.
Examples include:
- Heavy rush-hour congestion and aggressive lane changes on I-95 and I-595
- Tourist and rideshare traffic along A1A, Las Olas, and coastal routes
- Short light cycles and rear-end risks at key intersections along Broward Boulevard and Sunrise Boulevard
- Regular involvement of law enforcement agencies that follow consistent practices in reporting and scene control
Hospitals and clinics in the county, including large trauma centers and orthopedic groups, also follow familiar billing and documentation habits. Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel work within that local reality every day and adjust strategy based on how Broward juries and insurers respond to motorcycle cases.
FAQs: Motorcycle Accident Questions From Riders
Does PIP coverage apply to motorcycle crashes in Florida?
Florida PIP rules do not treat motorcycles the same way as passenger vehicles. Riders generally cannot draw on PIP benefits for motorcycle injuries, which pushes more of the financial load onto the at-fault driver’s liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, and health insurance. PIP’s different treatment of motorcycles changes strategy and makes coverage review one of the first steps our lawyers take in a motorcycle case.
Do helmet choices affect a motorcycle case?
Florida law allows adult riders who meet certain insurance requirements to ride without a helmet, yet adjusters still argue that helmet choices caused or worsened specific injuries. Driver conduct will still be looked at first. Lack of a helmet might generate arguments about head injuries, yet careless driving that caused the crash remains a central issue, and lawyers work to separate lawful gear choices from attempts to dodge responsibility.
How do delivery or gig workers handle motorcycle crashes?
Riders who work for delivery platforms or courier services face layered insurance arrangements that mix personal policies with commercial or platform-based coverage. Case evaluation needs to identify whether the rider was on an active delivery, logged into an app, or off the clock, then line that status up with each policy’s terms. Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel review contracts and policies to pinpoint which carriers need to respond.
How long does a motorcycle accident case take in Florida?
Timelines differ in motorcycle cases based on injury severity, treatment length, insurance company tactics, and whether fault remains disputed. Cases with clear liability and injuries that stabilize within a reasonable period may resolve through settlement within a shorter window, and cases that require surgery or lead to permanent impairment, especially when fault stays heavily contested, may move into litigation and take much longer. Lawyers at the firm explain expected timing at the outset and give updates as conditions change.
How do attorney fees work for motorcycle accident cases?
Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel handle motorcycle cases on a contingency fee basis. Clients do not pay attorney fees up front. Instead, the firm receives an agreed percentage of money recovered through settlement or verdict, along with reimbursement of case costs where allowed. A contingency fee arrangement lets injured riders pursue cases without taking on additional monthly bills at a time when income already feels uncertain.
Let Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel, PLLC Fight for You
Motorcycle crashes in Broward County leave riders and families facing hospital stays, therapy, time away from work, and insurance pressure that pushes quick, low settlements out of line with what recovery actually costs. Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel, PLLC use deep experience with serious injury cases in South Florida to push back with evidence, clear advocacy, and a plan that reflects your long-term needs instead of an adjuster’s budget. Call (954) 495-2715 or contact the firm online for a free consultation, speak directly with a Broward County motorcycle accident lawyer about what happened, and let the team investigate fault, organize medical and wage documentation, and fight for the full compensation your injuries and losses justify.
